‘Grand Budapest Hotel’ Trailer & Poster: Wes Anderson European Quirk

A life spent as a hotel lobby boy in a landlocked Eastern European country sounds dull – save for when the hotel in question is under the management of Wes Anderson. Such is the case with The Grand Budapest Hotel, the titular central location of his latest film. If the freshly-released trailer (see above) has anything to say on the matter, hauling around luggage for wealthy guests never looked quite so exciting. (Or so impeccably staged and designed.)

The trailer arrives after months of waiting, following an official story detail announcement (which in turn hit the web after months of hemming and hawing over Anderson’s stunning ensemble cast, which starts with Ralph Fiennes, continues with tons of Anderson mainstays, and ends with newcomer Tony Revolori). For those in a hurry, the footage can be summed up as “everything you’d expect from Wes Anderson,” but that boils down the delights The Grand Budapest Hotel has in store for us to the bare essentials.

Sure, all of Anderson’s usual flourishes are in plain view here – his controlled dollhouse aesthetic most of all, and his knack for drawing out a dry punchline just enough to enhance its impact. He also appears to be in full-on caper mode – none too surprising given that the film comes to us straight after his widely praised 2013 effort, Moonrise Kingdom, which is one big, youthful escapade wrapped around a story of innocence lost.

For reference, here’s The Grand Budapest Hotel‘s full synopsis:

The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting, the battle for an enormous family fortune and the slow and then sudden upheavals that transformed Europe during the first half of the 20th century.

What we see here actually looks a good deal more straightforward than the plot summary reads. In fact, based on the trailer, the picture appears to mostly revolve around the murder of a hotel patron, which Gustave (Fiennes, in top form) ends up being implicated in. (Technically, he implicates himself, which is why it’s never smart to run from the cops.) Everything else may just trickle out of that turn of events, but it’s hard to judge by a single trailer.

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Packaged along with the trailer is The Grand Budapest Hotel‘s theatrical poster, which similarly captures Anderson’s careful, deliberate sense of style. It looks like a combination of Norman Rockwell and Renaissance paintings, which probably sums up his perspective as a filmmaker quite handily.

But that’s not all: the film also has a release date on the books. The bad news, of course, is that it falls on the next calendar year, but the good news is that March 7th, 2014 isn’t all that far off, so The Grand Budapest Hotel may be the first release of the new year worth getting really excited for. (Assuming Anderson is your cup of tea, that is.)